<<  -- 6 --  Gordon Rumson    FRAGMENTS OF FORGOTTEN SOUNDS

Siberia

Siberia has always attracted me, perhaps because I am a Canadian and don¹t much mind the cold. The vastness of its forests and innumerable lakes appeals to me. Sadly, I fear it has become a toxic wasteland. There, amidst the debris we can also hear the remnants of ancient cultures in the songs of the shamans. These travelers to astral realms returned empowered to cure, harm and cope with life far beyond the capacities of their fellow humans. And they sang. Songs of power, of magic, of emotion, of incantation and enchantment. When preparing this article I found a great web site with music samples of shamans singing, but now it's vanished into the ether. Like the shamans, I suppose.

Fortunately, someone is keeping traditions alive. Ken Hyder, from Scotland, is a modern jazz musician with wide ranging sympathies and great creativity. For some fascinating music and stories about Siberia and shamanist music:

www.hyder.demon.co.uk
(Link permission pending)

Africa

If Africa is the source of human life it is sadly under-represented on the Net in its most ancient manifestations. But its more recent music, the music even predating the European occupation, is abundantly alive, though much influenced by American Rock, in my mind...

africanmusic.org

The wide variety of African music should be noticed. From an emphasis on rhythm in some places to the development of Arabic influenced music (Morocco, for example) to Anglican chant in others the array is fascinating.

An African aside: Coptic Music

The Coptic Church survived in spite of its surroundings in Islam. Some claim that ancient Egyptian melodies survived in its liturgy. Read the Coptic Music Web Site by Shenouda Mamdouh -- Watany Newspaper (8 August 1993) at:

www.redbay.com/newbies/copt/
(linked with permission)

There are numerous links to audio files. Even if the sounds are not as ancient as one might hope, they do represent a tradition almost 2000 years old.

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